Matthew Winick
The Edmonton Stingers (6-0) kept their undefeated season alive with a hot-shooting second half to pull away from the Saskatchewan Rattlers (0-7) by a score of 87-70 on Monday night at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
The Rattlers led by two at halftime, but a 47-28 second-half advantage by the Stingers pushed the game out of reach. With the victory, Edmonton won its third consecutive game in a regular season mini-series against Saskatchewan.
While the Stingers weren’t as sharp from start to finish as they were in recen t games, the team’s three-point shooting bailed them out. Edmonton shot an impressive 11-22 (50%) from long range in the victory, showcasing collaborative ball movement which led to high quality shot attempts for several guys on the roster.
“It’s confidence, our first game of the season we only went 3-21 (from deep),” said Stingers’ head coach Jermaine Small after the game, “We’ve been putting up more shots now, and they’ve been shooting off the rust.”
Jordan Baker led the way for the Stingers, with an impressive stat line of 25 points, 14 rebounds and five assists while being a +26 on the floor. Baker made plays look effortless, making open shots, hitting teammates when covered, and grabbing seemingly every rebound within his grasp.
Guard Mathieu Kamba was also in top form, tying his season-high with 18 points on efficient 6-10 shooting. Kamba has taken a slight backseat offensively to Player of the Year frontrunner Xavier Moon, along with Baker and forward Marlon Johnson, but he’s been steady and consistent throughout the season. His teammates saw he had the hot hand and kept providing him with open looks.
“I saw the way they were playing Xavier (Moon), denying him the whole game, and it gave me open looks. I had the confidence to shoot them, and my teammates were behind me,” said Kamba, “Any shot that we take when we’re open is never a bad shot.”
While Saskatchewan is still winless on the season, the team’s offense is slowly but surely rounding into form. Still last place in points per game, the Rattlers topped 60 points for the first time in three contests. Coach Conor Dow has only been leading the squad for two games, but he’s already seen the tides starting to turn for his team’s offensive unit.
“Our spacing was a lot better, we got the looks we were looking for, we got the looks we practiced,” said Dow, “It just comes to working in the gym, so we knock them down come game time.”
Devonte Bandoo led the Rattlers in scoring for the second straight contest, dropping 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds and four steals. Travis Daniels also stepped up in the loss, finishing with a season-high 15 points.
While much of the starting lineup was effective for Saskatchewan, the bench couldn’t hold its weight. All told, the Rattlers’ reserves only combined for nine points, providing minimal offensive production for their squad.
The Rattlers also took an equal amount of two-pointers and three-pointers, 34 a piece. While the close-range shots fell at a decent 47% clip, the team shot only 8-34 (23%) from beyond the arc. ]
“Anytime we’re attacking offensively, we’re trying to get the ball in the paint,” said Dow, “But as I keep saying to the guys, I trust them to make their shots.”
Saskatchewan will now mercifully escape the grasp of the Stingers, as its next game comes on Friday at 9:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. local time against the Guelph Nighthawks.
Edmonton is back in action on Thursday against the Hamilton Honey Badgers in a highly anticipated battle of the top two teams in the CEBL. That game will be played at 7:00 p.m. ET.
All CEBL games will be available for live streaming on the CEBL’s new OTT streaming service CEBL+, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and android devices, and on Twitch.
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